Banks reopened yesterday, with restrictions, only effects Greek accounts though so if you’re coming on holiday you can access your foreign accounts at the ATM and go about your holiday in the usual way. Not sure about cashing travellers’ cheques though – does anyone still use them? I’ve not seen one for several years thanks to the rise of the ATM – which is not the new Terminator film, as it happens.

But ATM is, or are, the initials of my old BSF from school, Andrew T Mackay who is now a leading composer of, among other things, film music in the Indian film industry. He is also half of ‘The Bombay Dub Orchestra’ which I have mentioned on here before, and their latest CD is available, with their others, and you can find it by following this link.  It’s ambient, ethnic, multi-cultural listening and hardly ever off my turntable these days.

Which is not true as I don’t have a turntable. We have an old gramophone but that only plays 78s at whatever speed it is in the mood for at the time. I use a DVD player as a CD player at the moment, through the amp and ancient Panasonic speakers – I keep meaning to replace them with something smaller and chic and discrete but when you’ve been with something for over 30 years it’s hard to let it, or them, go. But when not playing ‘Bombay Dub’ I am often playing APP as opposed to ATM.

APP is the Alan Parsons Project, which you may have heard of. He, or they, are often the underscore to my housework and pottering around at home time. And talking of pots, Neil bought another potted patio plant from the garden centre by the town hall. Due for delivery any time now along with some extendable clippers (I can’t spell secateurs) with which to trim the vine. Parts of it are hanging over the road and are in danger of garrotting moped riders.

So, that’s how we get from Greek banks to Bombay (via West London and Abbey Road Studios) to APP and the grapevine. And if you fancy listening to some Alan Parsons then you might like this ‘best of’ compilation to get you started. Click here.  And with that I shall leave you to find your way back to the Greek bank again, which is where we came in today. Oh, and if you are wondering what BSF stands for, it means ‘best straight friend.’ Hope you enjoyed Neil’s photos today.

Share on Facebook

Sunday morning, Symi, blog, doing it now so I can have the rest of the day off. Just checking up on the news and found a report from Greek Reporter about the ‘migrant’ situation as they call it.

“The problem is just mounting on a daily basis. On one side, you see refugees queuing for registration; on the other side, you see Greeks queuing at cash points for their 60 euros a day. It is a perfect storm,” said David Morrissey the actor from ‘The Walking Dead’ (and many other things) who has come with UNHCR.

We were in Yialos on Saturday and though there was no queuing for the ATM, on the way back in a taxi, saw the latest group of refugees on the south side of the harbour, finding shade as best they could. They will probably be waiting for the next Athens ferry, which is not due until Wednesday; meanwhile they must rely on whatever money they have for food and water, and the police station for shelter, and generous restaurant owners such as Pandelis who offer what free food they can after service.

The other thing that we did on Saturday was get some money out of the bank in order to put it back into the bank during the week. Apparently the banks are opening again from Monday, or Tuesday depending on what you read. If you’ve a Greek account you can still only take out €60.00 per day but there is talk of letting you take your weekly allowance in one go, to save you having to return. And some places have reported that at €300.00 per week, which is clearly wrong, as it should be €420; unless they mean €300 over the counter for five banking days and then another two visits to the ATM at the weekend. Some are reporting that it’s the full €420. Still, at least they should be open, and that means we can pay our income tax bills and put the country on the road to recovery. More on this story here.

Another thing we did in ‘town’ was to buy another plant for the courtyard and some clippers on a pole so we can reach the vine. All that should be delivered today, Sunday, or tomorrow, Monday, which is today as you read this, unless you are coming back to it at the end of the week for a catch-up in which case you can work out what day it is for yourself. But for me it’s Sunday and I am looking down on Harani and can count 11 boats of various breeds in the water, waking up slowly as it’s still only half seven. I’ve been up since six, thanks to a Zak Effron film sending me to sleep very early last night.

After sorting through my photos of Saturday and posting this I intend to spend the morning with the second draft of the latest novel and get to the end of my read-through. (Sounds so pretentious.) Then all I need to do is write in the rewrites and send it out to my ‘beta readers’ for spelling mistakes and the like. And that is all I have planned for the rest of the day, that and keeping cool as the temperature continues to climb, and the breeze to stay noticeable by its absence a lot of the time.

Other pans for the week ahead? Well, none really apart from going to Rhodes on Wednesday to see about health insurance. My state IKA scheme comes to an end early next year now that I am not working for a Greek business, and I need to get some kind of private health cover in place. I have two people to see, the first of whom has offered to collect me from the boat and drive me to the office. There’s service for you. Though seeing as it’s an insurance salesman I also feel like I might be letting myself walk into the lion’s den. But they both sound very nice in the emails and messages, so let’s hope it’s only a question of having questions answered and there’s no hard sell. I am sure there will be more on this in due course.

Ah well, back to my view…

Share on Facebook

Saturday morning Symi photos taken over the last few weeks – just a medley of images today. Enjoy the photos – and have a good weekend.

Share on Facebook

For a change, this is coming to you on the day it was written, Friday. Just back from a run up the hillside to ‘To Vrisi’ and back, and sitting down at the desk after a shower, at 6.37 with a mug of hot water and lemon, and a relaxing day working on the book ahead. At least that’s what’s planned for now, you never know what might come up around here.

There are loads of boats in the harbour this morning and in Pedi. I counted roughly 50 in Pedi as we went up the side of the hill this morning. And as you can see from the photo taken from the roof there are a fair few in on the north side of the harbour and out in the bay. There will also be boats on the near side that you can’t see from this photo. So, it looks like the harbour guys will be having a busy time today.

The flags are out at Agia Marina, so I assume there’s a name day or a festival day today, or this weekend. Perhaps that’s why there are so many boats around? Or it could just be the fact that Symi is a great harbour to call into, has many bays to stop in and places to explore and is just so popular. Or a mixture of both.

We are having a dispute over our electricity bill at the moment. Well, not a dispute as such but: the landlord gave us the bill yesterday. We’ve paid one estimated one since we’ve been here, and it was only about €40.00. The meter was read a few days after we moved in, so that was all pretty neat. But we’ve been here five months now and three of them were pretty cold and so we had the heating on for some of the time. And yet the bill was still under €50.00 – that can’t be right. In fact it can’t be right as the reading doesn’t match the reading on the box, and I know that was read only a couple of weeks ago. And the numbers on the bill don’t match the numbers on the box either, the ‘arithmos’ or meter number. So, we’re hoping the electrician who did the electrics will be around later to explain if this is the right bill against the right meter. Happy to pay a little bill of course (as long as it’s to the right account) just don’t want a massive one further down the road if this is an error.

The water bill also came in yesterday and that was the standard amount for us, around €40.00 for three months, or €13.00 per month. Not complaining about that either. The water bill is the only one we have to pay in person at the town hall, our other bills get paid on line. Which is just as well as the banks aren’t open to receive them – though you can also pay via ATM and the post office or at the actual DEH office, or OTE office for phone.

So, that’s my early morning ramble. The head is now clear thanks to the fresh mountain air and the mind is tricking over. The internals are getting cleaned through by the lemon water and the half litre or more I’ve already downed. The fan is on, the window by the desk is open, and the temperature is rising. Our ‘porch’ is pretty cool, it was only 34 yesterday in the coolest part of the house. Have a good day!

Share on Facebook

Before we get onto birthday bashes, here’s a note from Melanie at Symi Animal Welfare that I should have put up a couple of days ago: “Thankyou Tove, the unusual glass cats have now all been sold at the Sunrise Kafeneion, €300 was raised for Symi Animal Welfare, in a very short time too. During these last weeks with so much uncertainty & cash-flow limits, our supporters have once again shown such kindness. We have recently explained the vet situation on the island, please read the report on our website www.symianimalwelfare.org

Thanks again, Melanie”

If you’ve not checked out the website you should, it is very informative about the animal situation and care on Symi.

Meanwhile, back in birthday bash-land. A great time was had by all down in Pedi on Tuesday evening where ‘several went mad by the sea.’ No dressing up as a pirate for Neil this time, just a sober time at Katsaras Taverna, who looked after us perfectly. The boys were swimming and snorkelling, finding starfish and playing in the sea. The adults were at the table chatting, some went swimming, and then, later in the evening, dinner was served.

It was just the family with godparents and a couple of Sam’s friends. And dinner was amazing – thank you Ian for that. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a large chicken fillet. And those Gigantes (my favourite) were some of the best I’ve tasted, bar mine. The taverna, with the jetty, is a good place to have lunch and watch the sea, or dinner and watch the many boats. There were loads in that night, a good sign that numbers of ‘yachties’ have not obviously dropped off this year.

And what’s happened to the ‘Greece as it happens’ posts? I hear you ask. Well, nothing, as nothing much has been happening yet. We’re waiting for the Wednesday’s results (I’m a day early as usual) of the laws that need to be passed in order to get some money to pay back some money that was lent by people who now say that there shouldn’t be any money paid back just yet, but then others do and they are screaming out for the country to sell itself off in pieces so those who shouldn’t have lent so much money can get some of it back and therefore stay in their high powered and well paid jobs. Or something.

There are various laws being put forward today (Wednesday), apparently and, as I understand it… No, as a web page and news site that’s usually pretty accurate understands it and I get the info from, those new laws are going to be:

• Ratifying eurozone summit statement
• VAT changes: Top rate of 23% to extend to processed food, restaurants etc. 13% to cover fresh food, energy bills, water and hotel stays, 6% for medicines and books
• VAT discount of 30% to be abolished on islands, but remotest islands to keep discount until next year
• Corporation tax raised from 26-29% for small companies
• Luxury tax for big cars, boats and swimming pools up from 10-13%; farmers’ tax up from 13-26%
• Early retirement to end (phased in by 2022); retirement age raised to 67
• Greek statistics authority Elstat to have full legal independence

I’m not sure which are the ‘remotest’ islands (apart from Kastalorizo I guess) not sure if that includes Symi. Corporation tax rise for small business will help finish most of them off I imagine. (See yesterday’s post.) And that’s as political as I am getting right now. I am rather tired of all the conjecture in the social media and anti-social media (and I don’t just mean the Daily Mail) so I am on a bit of a ‘crisis overload’ at the moment. So, should you pass me in the street don’t expect an intelligent conversation about it, you’re more likely to get a yawn and whatever. Eyes are on the situation of course, just my heart’s not in it at the moment. Far more important things to be getting on with, like new novels and birthday parties.

Share on Facebook